The winter crisis in the NHS was entirely predictable and the apology of Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health, is wholly inadequate. Protect Our NHS BANES are deeply sorry for all those patients who have suffered delays in Accident and Emergency at the RUH and for those whose operations have been cancelled. We very much appreciate the dedication and hard work of NHS staff at the RUH and in the community who have continued to give high quality care despite quite unprecedented pressure.

We are very angry that this situation has been allowed to happen. We challenge the statement given to your paper by Bath Conservative Group. They say that the government, in the budget, gave an extra £2.8 billion funding for the NHS in England over the next two years. However they omit to say that Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, warned that £4bn was the minimum needed but he was snubbed by the Chancellor.

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The NHS has been underfunded for more than seven years. We spend less on health than most European countries. We also have fewer hospital beds. In addition, the NHS is facing a staffing crisis and training places for doctors and nurses have been reduced. This all takes place against the backdrop of a rising demand from an ageing population. At the same time local authorities have seen their funding for social care reduced drastically. Is it any wonder that we have a winter crisis ?

This is no way to run the NHS and social care. It is potentially dangerous and causes great distress. It places intolerable burdens on dedicated staff and it is also highly inefficient. When operations are cancelled highly qualified and expensive surgical and theatre staff plus equipment stand idle.

Apologies are not enough, we want to see an acknowledgement that the NHS and social care needs more funding and then some urgent action to address this problem.